Closing the language gap for Aboriginal patients

Thanks to a Volunteer Association/Health Sciences Foundation Family CARE Grant, the Health Sciences Centre’s patient consent form is being translated to Oji-Cree, Cree and Ojibway. Aboriginal patients who do not speak or understand English will now have a form in their language to clearly understand what treatment or tests they are being asked to consent to.

Research

Regional Cancer Care Northwest and the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre are strong supporters of research including cancer research. Thanks to its research arm, the Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute, our Hospital has consistently been in the Top 40 Research Hospitals in Canada since 2011. Research efforts can be broken into two broad categories:

Clinical Trials/Clinical Research: Clinical trials help advance medical options and potentially can provide additional treatment options for patients for whom traditional treatments may not be working as well as hoped. There are dozens of active clinical trials at our Hospital at any given moment including many specifically related to cancer care. As our research program grows, so too does our Clinical Research Program.

Patient-Centred Research: Our Health Research Institute undertakes “patient-centred research” – research that directly benefits the residents of Northwestern Ontario. Examples include medical treatments and protocols designed to overcome the distance barrier to care, studies designed to improve Indigenous health, and new diagnostic methods that can help patients here and around the world. Our Hospital became one of the few hospitals in Canada to install its own cyclotron, used and administered jointly with the Health Research Institute for patient care and research.